Dante Luciano Valerio

Name: Dante Luciano Valerio

Gender: Male

Age: 18

Grade: 12

School: George Hunter High School

Hobbies and Interests: Track, skateboarding, animals, socializing

Appearance: Dante stands at 6'4", cutting a noticeable figure, and weighs 180 pounds. He has a wiry build with noticeable muscle, especially in his legs, thanks to years of running. His legs are a bit long when compared to his torso. His skin is clear and unblemished, and is dark olive in color, reflecting his Italian heritage; he tans to a deep bronze during the summer.

Dante has a chiseled face and high cheekbones, with an aquiline nose, deep brown almond-shaped eyes, and full lips. His ears stick out a bit, but they're generally covered by his hair, which is just long enough to cover them. His hair is dark brown, thick, curly, and generally untamed. He has thick eyelashes and thick, expressive eyebrows. His facial hair grows in quite quickly; though he shaves often, he has permanent stubble across his jawline.

Though Dante takes pride in his appearance, he isn't particularly picky with regards to his wardrobe. He wears almost exclusively solid colors, with loose-knit v-neck t-shirts and long sleeve shirts, mostly in greens and blues, which along with jeans, chinos and knee-length twill shorts make up the bulk of his wardrobe. He usually wears three different necklaces: a brown leather cord with three shark's teeth, a silver ball chain with a silver skull and crossbones, and a thin gold chain with a small gold rosary ring hanging from it, sized for a child. He also wears a small cross earring in his left earlobe.

On the day of the trip, Dante was wearing an unzipped dark green hoodie over a light olive green v-neck t-shirt, dark blue twill shorts hitting just above the knee, and a pair of black and white checkered Vans with white socks. He also wore his usual jewelry.

Biography: Dante was born on August 8th, 1999, to Lucian and Rosa Valerio. Lucian was Italian-American, the child of Sicilian immigrants, and a devoted Catholic who was studying at the time for his doctorate in religious studies. He lived with his parents, Marco and Giulia Valerio, who insisted he continue living at home at least until he found a wife and supported him through his studies. Every year over the summer, since childhood, the pair would take their son home to Catania, Italy, where he would spend time with his extended family and friends. He met the girl that would one day be his wife, Rosa Battaglia, when they were children, as she was his age and the daughter of one of his father's closest friends, but he did not take much notice of her until they were both in their twenties.

Lucian fell in love with the strength and passion he saw in her, and spent the two months he spent in Catania that year trying to woo her. He attempted to convince her to come home with him, to no avail, though she was clearly receptive to his advances. The two continued their love affair through letters and the occasional long distance phone call, and the following summer, when Lucian returned to Catania, he proposed to her. A wedding was quickly planned and performed that same summer before Lucian returned home to Chattanooga, with his new wife joining him.

The two continued to live with Marco and Giulia for a time, as Lucian could only hold part-time jobs while he was still in school and Rosa was having a difficult time finding one, as her English skills were limited. Marco and Giulia were delighted to have their son and his wife live with them, however, and constantly reassured them that they were under no pressure to leave. They were even happier when Rosa announced her pregnancy, excited at their imminent future as grandparents. The house was already crowded with the four of them, and it seemed impossible to Lucian to imagine fitting a baby into their household as well, but he didn't have any other options, especially since Rosa's pregnancy added yet another obstacle to her job search. The burgeoning family would not move out of Lucian's parents' home for five years, at which point Lucian and Rosa had already had their second child. Their new home was too small even for the four of them and grew more and more cramped as the couple had more children, but a larger home is above their means.

Dante was the first of the couple's children, and the only boy. He was always a happy and gregarious child, constantly moving around and babbling. His parents raised him bilingual, speaking to him in both English and Italian. He seemed to have trouble with switching between the two languages, and would often mix the two in sentences and speak in Italian at inappropriate times. Over time he became more comfortable speaking English and learned to use it exclusively when out of the house, but he maintains a solid grasp on Italian and is prone to use it when flirting or when speaking to his family.

Lucian worked as a religious studies professor, while Rosa stayed at home to take care of the children. She was a very loving but strict mother, dedicating all of her time to making sure her children were happy and healthy. Over the years the couple would have four more children, all girls: Venetia, Allegra, Adriana and Beatrice. All four girls are very attached to their older brother, and he's very protective of them in return. The youngest, Beatrice, is ten years younger than Dante and is particularly clingy with him. Dante gets roped into babysitting by his parents quite often and is never resentful of the responsibility; if he turns down an opportunity to hang out with friends or go on a date, it's almost always because he's spending time with his family.

Unsurprisingly, with five children and only one working parent, money is quite tight in the Valerio household. Rosa takes on small data-entry jobs online to supplement their income, and Dante and Venetia both have part-time jobs at a fast food restaurant and give most of their earnings to their parents, keeping only a token amount of pocket money for themselves. While the family maintains a close relationship with Marco and Giulia, Lucian's parents are both retired and their means are far more limited than they used to be, though they still provide some small financial assistance to the family despite Lucian and Rosa's insistence that it isn't necessary.

Lucian and Rosa were both quite religious, having both been raised traditionally Catholic, and since Lucian was generally busy it was Rosa who read biblical stories and tales about the saints to Dante as he was growing up. He was especially attached to the story of St. Francis, who was known for preaching to animals. Lucian and Rosa always kept pets, and Dante's attachment to them only grew as his mom told him about St. Francis. He loves all animals and drives out to the local animal shelter as often as he can. Though he isn't officially a volunteer, he is well-known by the employees at the shelter and occasionally helps out with small tasks. Dante's family doesn't currently own any animals for monetary reasons, but Dante dreams of having a home full of pets again one day.

Catholicism has always been an important part of Dante's life. He attends church every Sunday and on holidays with his whole family, and he tries to be a good Catholic. He's quite tolerant of others, as he prioritizes keeping the peace above all else, but he can get quite distressed if he hears his religion is being disparaged. He tends to interpret scripture in his own way, as he believes strongly that nothing that doesn't harm other people is really a sin. At his First Communion, one of his aunts gave him a small gold rosary ring, and though it's far too small for him to wear on a finger now he still wears it every day on a gold chain. He fiddles with it when he's nervous or having trouble concentrating, and occasionally he actually tries pray the Rosary, though he can never remember much of it.

Dante has been a bit of a flirt for his entire life, long before he understood what flirting was. It started with him imitating the behavior of his father, who paid compliments to every woman he met and kissed their cheeks whenever he could get away with it. Dante's behavior was generally considered harmless, though he did get hit by a couple of girls who didn't appreciate his attentions, leading to his dad giving him a few lessons on consent and respecting boundaries. This continued as he got older, and eventually his precocious and essentially meaningless behavior turned into legitimate romantic affectations. His parents find his behavior charming and tacitly encourage it, as long as it doesn't get him into trouble and as long as his flirtations don't go beyond chaste kisses at the door. They don't, as Dante's ideal night out involves dinner, a movie, flowers, and compliments in Italian; he has practically no interest in sex and any desire to go further on the part of his dates is generally met with bewilderment. After living with him for years, pretty much every girl at George Hunter has been the subject of his attentions at some point or another. He knows well enough to back off when those attentions are unwanted, and since everyone knows that he's not interested in anything physical or in any real commitment, he's seen as pretty much harmless.

Though Dante enjoyed school and made friends easily, he had a lot of difficulty with academics from the beginning of his school career onward. He worked hard, wanting to please his parents, but the best grades he could ever manage were low Bs. He currently averages Cs in most of his classes, with Bs in his art and gym classes and Ds in mathematics. He does all of his work, but he has a hard time concentrating and following complicated topics. Logical subjects like math and science tend to be very difficult for him, as he has a hard time following formulas and the like; the difficulty makes Dante dread the subjects. Though he isn't particularly good at English either, he prefers it, along with art, as they allow for more lateral thinking. He's generally seen to be pretty unintelligent, even by his friends, though he makes up for his lack of brainpower with his charisma.

Starting in junior high, Rosa decided that Dante needed to start doing some sort of physical activity during his free time to burn off some of his excess energy. He started running track at her encouragement and is part of the track team at George Hunter to this day. He has quite a bit of natural talent as a runner and could be a standout if he took the team more seriously and practiced more often, but he sees running more as a hobby than a competitive sport and so underperforms his potential. He also picked up skateboarding at around the same time, as another physical outlet, mainly because he thought it seemed cool at the time. Skating turned into a daily activity for him, despite his total ineptitude at it; to this day he's only capable of very basic tricks and has accrued a number of non-serious injuries over the years in his attempts to pull off more serious stunts.

Dante is a very social person, and he spends as much of his free time as possible with his friends. He enjoys going to parties, and his widest circle of friends is from the party crowd. He drinks occasionally, but he's more than willing to stay sober to help out his friends when they drink too much. He prefers quieter parties to loud, raucous ones, as he likes being able to talk to people, but he'll go to any gathering he's invited to. He is not a very good planner, nor is he particularly ambitious; his future plans after graduation are rather vague, though he has expressed a hope to spend more time at the animal shelter and possibly get a full-time job there. His parents are supportive, but while his father has encouraged him to take a year off of school, he's insistent that Dante apply for college. He has been accepted at a local community college but hopes to convince his parents if he gets a job before fall comes around that he doesn't need to attend.

Up until recently Dante has considered himself heterosexual; though he has had questioning thoughts about his sexuality for some time, he has always pushed those aside due to fear of his church community's judgment. However, after some soul-searching and a conversation with his close friend Aurelien Valter, he has accepted that he is bisexual to at least some degree. He has no plans to let any of his family members know about this, but he has not been making any serious attempts to hide his relationship with Aurelien from his classmates, as they openly attended prom together.

Dante is generally well-liked, though some girls can't stand his flirtatious behavior and some guys dislike him for his seemingly easy way with girls. He does tend to flirt quite a bit with his female friends, and occasionally with some of his male friends as well. He's a very loyal and trusting friend, often to a fault, who hates conflict and acts as a peacekeeper; with his good humor and his refusal to take sides in confrontations between friends, he makes for a great mediator even when he isn't quite sure of the details of the situation. His goofy, laid-back attitude makes him difficult to hate. He's quite charming and very good-looking, but he isn't particularly good at taking advantage of those characteristics, except when it comes to hitting on people. He has a terrible memory and can be very oblivious, but he tries his best in all things and is always very apologetic if he completely misses something seemingly obvious.

Advantages: Dante is physically fit and quite fast over short distances. He has a lot of friends and is generally well-liked. He is very good at resolving conflicts and de-escalating situations.

Disadvantages: Dante isn't very smart; he is a terrible planner, has a poor memory and generally isn't good at thinking his way around complicated problems without help. He is very loyal and trusting to his friends and could easily be used and betrayed by them. He hates conflict and, if diplomacy failed, it's unlikely he'd be willing to fight.

Designated Number: Male Student No. 40

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Designated Weapon: The Liberator 3D-Printed Pistol

Conclusion: I used to take lunch money from guys like this. Of course, none of them ever pulled a gun. On the other hand, that gun is just one step above a toy, so B040's still screwed even if he can pull the trigger. - Veronica Rai

'The above biography is as written by Fenris. No edits or alterations to the author's original work have been made.'

Evaluations
Handled by: Fenris

Kills: None

Killed By: Blaise d'Aramitz

Collected Weapons: The Liberator 3D-Printed Pistol (assigned weapon, to Blaise d'Aramitz)

Allies: Blaise d'Aramitz, Camila Cañizares

Enemies: N/A

Mid-game Evaluation: Dante woke, quick to accept what was happening but also softly crying on behalf of the friends who'd ended up on island with him. He woke on the steps of the pier, near Violet Schmidt, who was quick to level her rifle at him. Dante tried to talk Violet to calm, dubiously aided by the sarcastic interjections of Blaise d'Aramitz, who was busily trying to ignore both of them while she rested underneath the body of the pier. Dante had little further chance to argue on his own behalf- Violet eventually shot, and the bullet struck him in the leg, toppling him. He maintained his characteristic friendliness even so, immediately prepared to forgive Violet for what might have been an accident. Violet and Blaise temporarily rallied around him to assist as he bled out- further assisted by the intervention of passerby Camila Cañizares, who was through a harrowing process able to bandage and stabilize Dante, who could only lie there helplessly and ask for something to kill the pain. Even through this process he remained openly forgiving of a shamefully repentant Violet- up until he passed out.

When he came to some time had passed- he awoke in time for the group's confrontation with Lorenzo Tavares. Lorenzo was outwardly concerned on his behalf, but despite Dante's personal vouching the others seemed to see something the prone and vulnerable Dante could not, and the situation had evolved into a tense standoff. Dante blamed himself, thinking that the others were only staying defensive on his behalf since he was mobilized. On that note he lapsed into unconsciousness again. When he came to he had missed most of the fight between Lorenzo and Tyrell Lahti, along with the revelation that had been made. But Dante was still upset, he sobbed, but Blaise, Camila, and Tyrell, those who had stayed behind, all offered their aid in some way or another. He resolved to be stronger for them.

The long walk from the pier to the East Housing units eventually saw them parting with Tyrell, who had only offered temporary aid. Dante remained hopeful, much as he was unsure what the long term prognosis of his leg wound would be. He heard familiar voices when startled into hiding by people moving around the nearby homes- he boldly emerged from his and Blaise's hiding spot without thinking twice, and ran into Faith Marshal-Mackenzie and Juliette Sargent. Faith had been clearly beaten and injured, but was foremost concerned for Dante and his wounds, and Dante returned the favor in kind, even offering to provide supplies as Faith had been robbed. Blaise was willing to help, but not that willing, and shot down Dante's altruism. All Faith wanted was to be sure that Blaise took care of Dante, as she intended to gather more allies if she could. She gave them a meeting place and left- Dante resisted the urge to follow. He proposed they follow Juliette instead, who was open to it, but Blaise also shot that down. In the end they slowly moved on, Dante rather guilty they'd left two people behind.

The trio eventually holed up in two nearby homes, staying separate in the belief that they could avoid all being ambushed at once. Dante had grown fond of Camila with their time spent together, and Dante was uneasy with Camila being alone in the other house but trusted Blaise and Camila to handle all the strategy. Blaise pointed out their future liaison with Faith was questionable, but Dante promised he could do it, motivated to find Faith and Aurelien Valter, his significant other. Blaise broke out the whiskey and Dante took to it with thanks, Blaise meanwhile worked on arranging Dante's supplies while Dante tried to drift off to sleep. Dante tried- as in, he figured he'd end up staying up past Blaise and Camila and hoped he could pull a bit of his own weight doing things while they rested. But Dante's body disagreed, he was sweating, once more feeling the impending doom that had come when he'd been dangerously on the cusp of exsanguination. Blaise ended up bringing up the souvenirs he'd bought in DC, while cradling him on their lap. Dante went on about his sisters- up until Blaise gunned him down, a pistol shot right to the temple. Dante, in the excruciating few moments before his consciousness lapsed for good, still believed that he'd been in good hands, that he'd been with someone he could trust.

Post-Game Evaluation: Blindly trust and you trust yourself to the devil. - Abby Soto

Memorable Quotes: "This isn't great." - His friendly, awkward reaction to being shot, addressed to the girl who'd just shot him.

"I'd help but, uh. D'fall over. Probably. Blaise'll get it. (...) Don't worry 'bout me. I'm... uh. (...) Could be worse." - His touching base with Faith when they meet.

"Silly kinda. To carry it around, I guess. But... s'nice. Remembering." - On his carrying around the things he bought for his sisters.

Other/Trivia

 * Dante was originally approved for V6, actually even appearing in a single post, the opening to Imparare, but as he had no meaningful interactions with other characters, staff allowed him to be resubmitted for V7 upon request. Dante's V6 appearance/existence is thus non-canon.
 * In real time, Dante was the first rolled student in V7 to die. However, as his death took place at night, he's listed after the other Day 1 deaths to keep things chronological.

Threads
Below is a list of threads containing Dante, in chronological order.

V7 Pregame: Prom: The Trip: V7: Related Threads in Meanwhile:
 * Confessionale
 * I'M A SHARK, I'M A SHAAARK, SUCK MY DIIIIICK, I'M A SHAAARK
 * Got No Heart To Break (#SwiftBall)
 * social link
 * Green Grass Gradation
 * Who wears short-sell shorts?
 * Ballare
 * Room 704: Liberate Me Ex Inferis
 * Scusare
 * Starting Point for G007
 * Student Government
 * Dormire
 * Demordere

Your Thoughts
''Whether you were a fellow handler in SOTF or just an avid reader of the site, we'd like to know what you thought about Dante Luciano Valerio. What did you like, or dislike, about the character? Let us know here!''
 * Dante was good. I mean, that's slightly reductive but gets to the core nicely. Dante's a character who, like Beryl and Abel, had a pretty involved and active Pregame, but unlike those two it wasn't a massive surprise that he went out early, in large part because that was just the sort of person he was—someone who was at his core good, but at the same time slightly naive and liable to be taken advantage of. This is nicely established in his Pregame arc, which diverges from those two I named before in another big way by having a really specific focus and drive. It's not everything about Dante, but a lot of his story centers around his relationship with Aurelien and his grappling with his own sexuality and how that intersects with his faith. This is all really good stuff, and I think part of what makes Dante work (and part of what makes him so tragic) is that his Pregame is able to really move him along in his journey of self-discovery and get him to a good place where he's grown as a person, just in time for his life to fall apart (and then rather promptly end).

Speaking of Aurelien, while I'm aware it wasn't planned to play out like this, Dante deserves similar props to Yuko in the arena of the narrative not being immune to the disappointments and horrors of reality. Aurelien finds Dante only after the latter's death, and while this means there's no reunion, it also actually lends the tragedy a whole lot more power in my opinion. It's the helplessness of it all that does it—what happened to Dante happened, and nothing could prevent it. This means it haunts his bereaved boyfriend in a different way than if, say, he'd died in his arms. There's no closure, no resolution. Just a void.

As to Dante's own story and character, I especially like how his good nature was played even in light of his abruptly sustaining a life-threatening injury. I like it when bad stuff happens and impacts a character but doesn't immediately kill them, and his narrative does a really nice job drawing out the pain and guilt and uncertainty and fear that come with taking a major hit in the opening stages of a terrible situation. It's especially a hard thing because Dante of course doesn't deserve such a fate (nobody does, but Dante is especially someone for whom great suffering is an injustice). Also of note: despite a whole lot of pretty wild stuff happening in his first thread, sometimes with a bunch of skipping in post order, Dante is always a strong narrative presence contributing to the scene and keeping hold of his share of the spotlight without overwhelming anyone else. That's a very valuable trait in an early out, pulling Dante out as a highly memorable character in his own right.

I will say, one thing I have some kind of ambivalent feelings about centers around Dante's death. On a purely Dante-centric level, I don't have too many complaints, which is to say his narrative gives him a good send-off that hews to his core character traits and is quite tragic, making us feel for and rage at his loss. What I wasn't quite as enthused with was the ways this shook out from the group dynamic to that point, and the way the staging played out—in both cases, it feels like compromises were made and plot prioritized over character in the interest of getting the beats of the scene to neatly click. I was pretty invested in the group and thought it was going interesting places, and felt like Camila got rather unfortunately sidelined so as to keep her from interfering (especially painful to her momentum as it's the second thread in a row she's largely booted from the primary interaction) and Blaise swerved in a way that discarded a lot of the cool and fresh things they'd been doing to that point so as to enable them to pull the trigger. While Dante's an excellent first showing, I feel like, over the course of the version, his handler gained a lot of confidence and adaptability, and the lessons taken from him were put to very good use bringing scenes and deaths later on to an even higher level. - MurderWeasel